2008 - MLS Upper Deck

2008 Upper Deck base set - Aleck Eskandrian, and Claudio Reyna

Inserts: Goal Scorers - chris Rolfe, Assist Kings - Dan McCarty

Inserts: Super Draft - Josh Lambo, Young Guns - Robbie Finley

Insert: Keepers - Jon Conway

2008 - MLS Upper Deck trading cards - 200 card base set

Insert cards: Young Guns, Super Draft 2008, Goal Scorers, Keepers, Assist Kings

MLS Materials Memorabilia cards, including David Beckham game used jersey cards...

Autograph cards numbered to 30 from Landon Donavan, Sacha Kljestan, Taylor Twellman and others...

2008.09.04 - Upper Deck press release:

With the addition of David Beckham to the league just over a year ago, collectors are intrigued by his megastar power and long-term collectability, as he single-handedly shook up America's perception of the sport. Sought after game-used cards and autographs fill the 2008 Upper Deck MLS product, featuring such stars as Beckham and Landon Donovan of the LA Galaxy as well as Pablo Mastroeni of the Colorado Rapids.

2012 Upperdeck MLS

2012 Upperdeck Retail pack - although not marked as a retail pack. Found this in Target, which was a great surprise to see it amongst the baseball and football cards. The pack sells for $1.00 and has 6 cards. The promotion on the pack says "Look for 2012 Super Draft Rookie Cards" in English and French. There are no memorabilia or autograph cards available in these packs...

The 2012 Hobby pack, which indicates it as a hobby pack in the upper left hand corner retails for around $5.00 offers the promotion "Look for National Pride Jersey Cards!"

The hobby edition features autograph and jersey cards as part of the 200 card base set. The set features the first MLS card for Robbie Keane.Odds of finding game used memorabilia 1:5, autographs 1:20..

Luke Rodgers base card -Rodgers was a Red Bull fan favorite in 201, who did not return in 2012 due to problems obtaining a work visa...

Player Debut cards and Super Draft cards featuring incoming rookies in their college jerseys...

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Purchased a box and got the following:

MLS Teammates - Freddy Adu & Danny Mwanga

Premium Series #4/25

 Benny Feilhaber - NE Revolution

Joel Lindpere - NY Red Bull

MLS Teammates - Brad Davis & Tally Hall

Autograph - Andrew Duran

Seattle Sounders draft pick currently playing for the Atlanta Silverback

2011 World of Sports

Picked up a few packs of Upper Deck's 2011 World of Sports.

On the Upper Deck site they boast the return of the set for it's second year as exciting, with the addition of Football (college) to the previous sports baseball (college), basketball (college), Hockey (Team Canada), Soccer (MLS, WPS and college), golf, surfing, college coaches, lacrosse a video game champion, snowboarder..a truly strange collection of athletes.  Upper Deck stated that last years set was the surprise hit of collecting, while most of the blogs I have seen disliked the product...

I find it interesting that the wrapper features Landon Donovan (MLS-LA Galaxy), golf and basketball...no football or baseball (not complaining)...I can see collectors of one sport having difficulty with a set like this, as it is difficult to obtain the sport of interest. And do I really need a card of a video game champion (like pulling the hot dog eating champ in the Allen & Ginter set!) I also do not understand the use of college photos of pro, like Josh Wolff in his South Carolina jersey?

In my view the card designs are  good, nice clear photos, with the World of Sports banner at the bottom. The checklist for the soccer cards:

214 Kevin Hartman

215 Donovan Ricketts

216 Davy Arnaud

217 Andy Najar

218 Marvell Wynne

219 David Ferreira

220 Michael Stephens

221 Chad Barrett

222 Chad Marshall

223 Kyle Beckerman

224 Kasey Keller

225 Landon Donovan

226 Javier Morales

227 William Hesmer

228 Josh Wolff

229 Omar Gonzalez

230 Justin Braun

231 Fabian Espindola

232 Jamison Olave

233 Robbie Keane

234 Stefan Frei

235 Steve Zakuani

236 Matt Reis

237 Conor Casey

238 Marco Pappa

239 Zack Schilawski

240 Omar Cummings

241 Heath Pearce

242 Teal Bunbury

243 Juan Pablo Angel

244 Shalrie Joseph

245 Sean Franklin

246 Macoumba Kandji

247 Matt Pickens

248 Chris Pontius

249 Diego Chaves

250 Amy Rodriguez

251 Tasha Kai

252 Laura Kalmari

253 Eniola Aluko

254 Brandi Chastain

255 Cat Whitehill

256 Ella Masar

257 Jordan Angeli

258 Jillian Loyden

259 Karen Bardsley

260 Lori Lindsey

261 Lauren Fowlkes

262 Leslie Osborne

263 Nicole Barnhart

264 Shannon Boxx

265 Meghan Klingenberg

266 Hope Solo

267 Heather Mitts

268 Christie Rampone

382 Will Bruin

383 Juan Agudelo

384 Rafael Marquez

385 Sebastien Le Toux

386 Dwayne DeRosario

387 Thierry Henry

388 Charlie Davies

389 Landon Donovan

390 Chris Wondolowski

391 Omar Salgado

392 Tobin Heath

393 Alex Morgan

394 Kelly Smith

395 Christine Sinclair

396 Mia Hamm

397 Marta

398 Abby Wambach

The set features the expected autograph cards (the use of stickers, which I do not like) and relic cards... 

2012 - Castrol Upper Deck

One of the promotional items given away at the Castrol booth was a set of 25 trading cards from Upper Deck. The cards are very similar to the 2012 Upper Deck regular set, although the printing quality is different.

The differences in the cards are the Castrol Index logo in the upper corner and the card number placed in a green Castrol circle. On the regular Upper Deck issue the number is in the same location without the green circle.

The backs of the cards feature the same player bio and stats. the tops of the card removes the player photo and replaces it with the Castrol Player Index, which is explained on a separate card as performance tracking for a players' every move on the field and assesses whether it has a positive or negative impact on the team's ability to score or concede a goal.  Keane's index is 7.77. The players position in the set in in decreasing order of their index, where as Koevermans has the highest index...

Checklist
1  Dany Koevermans - Toronto FC
2  Kei Kamara - Sporting
3  Thierry Henry - Red Bull
4  Chris Wondolowski - Earthquakes
5  Hamdi Salihi - DC United
6  Saer Sene - Revolution
7  Steven Lenhart - Earthquakes
8  Bill Hamid - DC United
9  Robbie Keane - Galaxy
10 Andy Grunbaum - Crew
11 Alvaro Saborio - Real Salt Lake
12 Chris Pontius - DC United
13 Dominic Oduro - Fire
14 Kenny Cooper - Red Bull
15 Jaime Castrillon - Rapids
16 Will Bruin - Dynamo
17 Kevin Rowe - Revolution
18 Joe Cannon - Whitecaps
19 Andre Hainault - Dynamo
20 Blas Perez - FC Dallas
21 Olman Vargas - Crew
22 Kris Boyd - Timbers
23 Michael Gspurning - Sounders
24 Dan Kennedy - Chivas
25 Sana Nyassi - Impact

World Cup USA94 - Upper Deck Cards

Fernando Clavivo - Cle Kooiman

Mike Lapper - Mike Sorber

Peter Vermes - Checklist

Mark Chung - Checklist

Alexi Lalas - Janusz Michallik

Upper Deck produced trading cards for the 1994 World Cup entitled "Contenders", issued in sets that provided text in English/Spanish, English/Japanese, English/German, English/Italian. The sets differed in the number of players profiled from each country such that the English/Spanish version had 28 US members, while the other sets only had 17 US members...

The US/Spanish set

1 Tony Meola

2 Des Armstrong

3 Marcelo Balboa

4 Fernando Clavijo

5 John Doyle

6 Alexi Lalas

7 Thomas Dooley

8 John Harkes

9 Tab Ramos

10 Hugo Perez

11 Cobi Jones

12 Chris Henderson

13 Roy Wegerle

14 Eric Wynalda

15 Cle Kooiman

16 Brad Friedel

17 Ernie Stewart

18 Jeff Agoos

19 Paul Caligiuri

20 Mark Chung

21 Frank Clopas

22 Dominic Kinnear

23 Janusz Michallik

24 Joe-Max Moore

25 Brian Quinn

26 Mike Sorber

27 Peter Vermes

28 Mike Lapper

The US Contenders set (280 base cards) also featured cards of the US Women's National team, Bora's Fantasy Team (Walmart only), World Cup Superstars, Walter Ioos Portraits, Stand Out Performers, Hot Shots, Player of the Year, Road to the Finals, Golden Boots, Future Stars and Honorary Captains - Bill Clinton, Drew Bledsoe, Mickey Mantle, Calbert Cheaney, Dan Marino, Michael Jordan, Gordie Howe, Wayne Gretzky, Russell Maryland, Joe Montana...

more information

2011 - Upper Deck Goodwin Chamnpions

2011 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions

Designed with vintage themes and relics, featured sport stars from the past and present...The cards are packed 5 cards per pack, a regular set of 150 base cards, masterpiece cards, Museum collection relics, landmark relics, entomology cards, and thoroughbred hair cuts, autographs and patch cards...

From the world of soccer the set includes:

Abby Wambach, Brandi Chastain

 Christine Sinclair, Dwayne De Rosario

 Hope Solo, Kasey Keller

Landon Donovan, Mia Hamm

Autographed cards were also issued for Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, Mia Hamm, Landon Donovan, Kasey Keller...

Memorabilia cards were also issued for Hope Solo, Landon Donovan, Dwayne De Rosario, Kasey Keller...

2010 - UD David Beckham

2010 Upper Deck World of Sports trading cards

2010 Upperdeck David Beckham autograph error. The folks at Upperdeck accidentally placed the autograph stick from Luciano Emilio on the David Beckham cards, this is one of the concerns of collecting cards that are not personally autographed. The player signs a bunch of stickers, which are them placed on the card after the fact. Mistakes happen...

There have been reports that this card has brought in $300-325.00 in on-line auctions, as an error card...really!!!

Philadelphia - Carlos Ruiz meets Carlos Ruiz

2005 Upperdeck Carlos Ruiz LA Galaxy jersey card

Carlos Ruiz signed with the Philadelphia Union, Feb 2011, transferring from the Greek Superliga club Aris FC. Ruiz returns to the MLS having started his career in 2002 with the LA Galaxy (2002-2005, 2008). Ruiz also played for FC Dallas (2005-2008) and Toronto FC (2008) of the MLS...

Outside of the MLS Ruiz has played for CSD Municipal (Guatemalan Liga Nacional de Futbol 1995-2002), PAS Giannina FC (Super League Greece 2000-2001) Club Olimpia (Paraguayan Primera Division - 2009), Puebla FC (Mexican Primera Division - 2009-2010)...

Ruiz is a member of the Guatemalan National Team since 1998...

Moving to the Philadelphia Union Ruiz had the opportunity to meet Carlos Ruiz who plays for the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team. In the tradition of soccer both Carlos' exchanged jerseys.

As early as 1931 soccer players were exchanging jersey after memorable games as a memento of their participation. The exchange also seen as a show of respect and sportsmanship for the opposing players.

World Cup USA94 - Upper Deck Cards

Tony Meola

Ernie Stewart - Cobi Jones

Hugo Perez - Dominic Kinnear

Des Armstrong - Chris Henderson

Paul Caligiuri - Bora Milutinovic

Upper Deck produced several sets in commemoration of the 1994 World Cup.

the 1993 World Cup Preview set features many of the US team members, along with 15 US Cup 93 review cards...There were a total of 165 cards in the US market English/Spanish issue.

Other preview sets, 200 base cards) were issued in English/German, Italian/Spanish, all of which focused on the international players with the US players in the mix.

These sets also featured Future Stars, Bora's Select (10 cards) and World Star Holograms (9 cards), Honorary Captains - Reggie Jackson, Joe Montana, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky.

Future Stars were only placed in special promotion was packs..20 From the Sidelines cards (#145-165) featuring the US team members...

Upper Deck also produced special sets with the same format, 1993 Mastercard Soccer Locker set, US and Mexico boxed sets

1. Tony Meola

2. Mike Lapper

3. John Doyle

4. Bruce Murray

5. Thomas Dooley

6. John Harkes

7. Hugo Perez

8. Dominic Kinnear

9. Tab Ramos

10. Ernie Stewart

11. Eric Wynalda

12. Jeff Agoos

13. Cobi Jones

14. Brian Quinn

15. Des Armstrong

16. Mike Sorber

17. Roy Wegerle

18. Brad Friedel

19. Chris Henderson

20. Paul Caligiuri

21. Fernando Clavijo

22. Alexi Lalas

23. Cle Kooiman

24. Peter Vermes

25. Mark Chung

26. Joe-Max Moore

27. Frank Klopas

28. Marcelo Balboa

29. Janusz Michallik

30. Bora Milutinovic